Strip accumulators of various types have long been used for storing a continuous length of strip material in an expanding and contracting spiral coil having a fixed number of turns with the strip material entering the outer diameter of the coil and withdrawn from the inner diameter or vice versa.
A major drawback of most accumulators is the time it takes to fill the accumulators to capacity after the supply of strip material has been replenished. The maximum fill speed of most accumulators is approximately 2.6 times the maximum line speed. This is particularly disadvantageous when processing thicker strip material with less footage in each coil or when processing smaller coils of any thickness of strip material in that the end of a new coil of strip material may be reached before the accumulators are filled to capacity, thus cutting down on the time available for the operator to replenish the supply by making coil changes and end welds without interruption or slowdown of the line.